Ongoing Research

Surgical Divisions are listed alphabetically

Cardiovascular Surgery: Research

• Biomaterials
• Clinical Trials in Adult Cardiac Surgery with particular interest in heart valves surgery
• Thoracic aortic resection and spinal cord ischemia
• Organ preservation for heart/lung transplantation, defense mechanism for control of ischemia-reperfusion injury
• Myocardial Protection
• Ischemic reperfusion injury in the neonatal and adult myocardium using isolated working heart models
• Prosthetic valve design and valvular reconstruction
• Heart Failure therapy (heart transplantation and mechanical support)

General Surgery: Research

• Ross D Brown
  • Trauma training/education
  • Hypothermia/shock resus in swine model
• Stephen W. Chung
  • Monitoring and modulation of the immune system in animal and human studies as it relates to transplantation and cancer
  • Development of new strategies for monitoring the immune status of transplant recipients and evaluation of novel tolerance inducing regimens in animal models of transplantation
• Noelle L Davis
  • Photoimaging and photodynamic therapy of cancer
  • Wound healing
• Naisan Garaway
  • Hypothermia/shock resus in swine model
• Dalhbir Jangra
  • Mountain Bike injuries
• Megan K. Levings
  • Cellular immunology with a specialized interest in understanding how T cells regulate tolerance to self and non-pathogenic foreign proteins, and translating that knowledge into clinically applicable protocols in the setting of transplantation.
• R Mark Meloche
  • Physiology of the human pancreatic islet and the effect of autonomic and enteric denervation on pancreatic endocrine function
• Alex G Nagy
  • 3D laparoscopic surgery, minimally invasive therapy for solid tumors (radio frequency)
• P Terry Phang
  • Clinical research on management of colorectal cancer (imaging, pathology, guidelines, adjuvant radiation strategies, outcomes), clinical outcomes for diverticulitis, clinical database methodology for quality improvement and education
• Nathan Schneidereit
  • Blunt Vascular neck injury
• Charles H Scudamore
  • Liver transplantation, effects of storage and subsequent transplantation of liver segments from living donors
  • Effects of Trasylol (aprotinin) in transplantation
• Richard K Simons
  • Systems and outcomes
  • Blunt Vascular neck injury
  • Hypothermia/shock resus in swine model
  • Mountain Bike injuries

Neurosurgery: Research

• Ryojo Akagami
  ryojo.akagami@vch.ca leads a group of investigators interested in the development and refinement of techniques to manage various skull based lesions. These include:
  • investigating various molecular and genetic factors affecting induction and growth of acoustic neuromas
  • development and assessment of novel neurophysiological monitoring techniques for use during skull base procedures
  • novel techniques for perioperative neuroprotection
• Douglas D Cochrane (Pediatric)
  dcochrane@phsa.ca leads a group of investigators interested in
  • The use of central nervous system imaging technologies to define physiological parameters of relevance to the treatment of children with hydrocephalus
  • Health care systems development with a focus on the development of skills in providers through the analysis of risk and safety during surgical care
  • Spinal cord disorders affecting children including spina bifida and occipital-cervical cord compression
• Christopher R Honey
  chris.honey@telus.net coordinates the Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery area of research for British Columbia
  • Our centre has ongoing prospective trials on the effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on movement disorders, mood, and pain.
    Please see for details
• William Jia
  wjia@interchange.ubc.ca 's laboratory has ongoing basic science research in
  • Gene therapy using various viral vectors for brain cancer and other diseases of the nervous system
  • Molecular biology, virology, neurophysiology, animal surgery, immunohistochemistry
• Paul Steinbok (Pediatric)
  psteinbok@cw.bc.ca leads a group of investigators interested in
  • Selective functional posterior rhizotomy
  • Therapeutic electrical stimulation for spasticity
  • Craniosynostosis
  • Intrathecal baclofen

Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery: Research

• Douglas J Kibblewhite
  • Recombinant human polypeptide growth factors in tissue repair & regeneration with emphasis on osteoinduction
• Dietrich WF Schwarz
  • Vestibular and auditory neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and psychophysics
  • Cellular and molecular electrophysiology

Pediatric Surgery: Research

• Geoffrey K Blair
  • Pediatric gastro-esophageal reflux disease, major congenital anomalies, and surgical access and surgical education
• Erik Skarsgard detailed research profile
  • Fetal gene therapy for monogenic disorders in an animal model.
    This research uses established animal models for fetal intervention to evaluate techniques of reporter gene delivery to respiratory epithelium.
    This research has potential clinical application to those monogenic metabolic disorders (such as cystic fibrosis) that are amenable to prenatal diagnosis
  • Neonatal surgical outcomes research. In conjunction with the Centre for Health Innovation and Improvement at BC's Children's Hospital, Dr Skarsgard is developing a Canada-wide perinatal surgical network (CAPSNET) to look at fetal diagnosis, treatment and outcome of babies born with gastroschisis and congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Plastic Surgery: Research

• James C. Boyle
  • Burn care and treatment in adults and the elderly
  • Hand injuries
  • Microsurgery
• Nicolas J. Carr
  • Microsurgery
  • Hand and the upper extremities
  • Moh's cancer
  • Muscle flap physiology
• Douglas J Courtemanche
  • Cleft lip and palate
  • Craniofacial anomalies
  • Muscle flap physiology
• Cynthia Verchere
  • Pediatric burn care
  • Cleft lip and palate
• Neil J Wells
  • Craniofacial anomalies

Radiation Oncology and Developmental Radiotherapeutics: Research

• Marianne Mildenberger
  • Hyperthermia and radiation pathology of the brain

Thoracic Surgery: Research

• Richard J Finley
  • Multi-centred clinical trials of lung and esophageal cancer
• Guy Fradet
  • Biomaterials
  • Lung transplantation/preservation
• A Karim Qayumi
  • Organ preservation for heart/lung transplantation, defense mechanism for control of ischemia-reperfusion injury

Vascular Surgery: Research

• Jerry Chen
  • Growth factors in proliferative vascular diseases
  • Somatostatin in vascular diseases
  • Clinical studies on ultrasound diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease
• York N Hsiang
  • Photodynamic therapy of atherosclerosis and restenosis
  • Growth factors in proliferative vascular diseases
  • Clinical studies on vascular access for haemodialysis patients
• Jock Reid
  • Clinical trials on prosthetic vascular graft infection
• David Taylor
  • Clinical studies on vascular access for haemodialysis patients
  • Clinical studies on access to care for vascular patients